English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History / Designed as a Manual of Instruction

by Henry Coppée

Roman News Letters—The Gazette—The Civil War—Later Divisions—The Reviews—The Monthlies—The Dailies—The London Times—Other Newspapers 475

Alphabetical Index of Authors

English Literature

Chapter I.

The Historical Scope of the Subject.

[Literature and Science]. [English Literature]. [General Principle]. [Celts and Cymry]. [Roman Conquest]. [Coming of the Saxons]. [Danish Invasions]. [The Norman Conquest]. [Changes in Language].

Literature and Science.

There are two words in the English language which are now used to express the two great divisions of mental production—Science and Literature; and yet, from their etymology, they have so much in common, that it has been necessary to attach to each a technical meaning, in order that we may employ them without confusion.

Science, from the participle sciens, of scio, scire, to know, would seem to comprise all that can be known—what the Latins called the omne scibile, or all-knowable.

Literature is from litera, a letter, and probably at one remove from lino, litum, to anoint or besmear, because in the earlier times a tablet was smeared with wax, and letters were traced upon it with a graver. Literature, in its first meaning, would, therefore, comprise all that can be conveyed by the use of letters.